534 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



houses, though they depreciate much more rapidly than dwelling houses, 

 and the cost of upkeep — chiefly for glass and paint — is immense. It was 

 contended that the one-sixth was quite inadequate. The Committee hold 

 that a strong case has been made out. They recommend that the one- 

 sixth for repairs be increased to one- third in the case of glass houses ; 

 that is to say, one-sixth for repairs, and another sixth for depreciation or 

 renewal, the life of glass houses being so short. The rating grievance 

 is that glass houses, and the land upon which they stand, are excluded 

 from the benefits of the Agricultural Rates Act of 1896, it being held 

 that they are buildings within the meaning of the Act. This appears to 

 be unjust ; it is evident that glass houses do not stand to fruit plantations 

 in the same relation as farm buildings to ordinary agricultural land ; they 

 are merely shelters over part of the land on which the fruit is actually 

 grown. The Committee recommend that the Agricultural Rates Act be 

 amended in such a way that, in the future, glass houses used for com- 

 mercial purposes should be held to be land, and not buildings, for the 

 purposes of the Act. 



Railway Grievances. 



45. An immense amount of evidence has been given, which may be 

 summarised under the above heading, nearly every grower and merchant 

 having had something to say about the treatment received from the 

 railway companies ; in addition to which the Committee heard two 

 witnesses called to represent the railways : Mr. Hennel, Assistant Goods 

 Manager of the Great Western Railway, and Mr. Vincent Hill, General 

 Manager of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway ; while Sir Herbert 

 Jekyll, Assistant Secretary of the Railway Department of the Board of 

 Trade, stated what were the powers of the Board with regard to railway 

 rates and facilities. The evidence given has been of very conflicting 

 character, ranging from decided discontent to expressions of approval. 

 The complaints made may roughly be divided as follows : — 



(a) That the rates for the carriage of fruit are too high for the 



sendees rendered ; 



(b) That preferential rates are given in the case of foreign fruit 



coming to this country ; 



(c) That preferential rates are given to one place over another in 



Great Britain ; that the incidence of the charges is variable ; 

 and that the existing classification presses hardly on growers ; 



(d) That deliveries are frequently unpunctual, so that fruit misses 



the market ; 



(e) That there is a great deal of bad handling of fruit ; 

 (/) That pilfering frequently occurs ; 



(g) That the service given in many places is inadequate ; and that 

 the vehicles provided, especially on goods trains, are often 

 most unsuitable ; 



(//) That considerable delays and losses occur in connection with 



the conveyance of empties ; 

 (/) That great difficulty is experienced by growers in getting the 



companies to pay claims for damage or loss, especially in the 



